Taking a shot at Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said his city would crash economically without illegal immigrants, Barletta drew from his own experiences as mayor of Hazleton to rebuke that way of thinking.

Barletta is the President Trump-endorsed likely Republican nominee to challenge incumbent Democrat Bob Casey, a largely ineffective politician’s son who recently clocked in at 27 percent support for his 2018 re-election bid in the Keystone State. Barletta’s campaign is being supported by people close to the amazing grassroots ground effort that put President Trump over the top in Pennsylvania in the 2016 election.